Manchester United WILL return to Barcelona with a third bid for Cesc Fabregas and believe the player wants to come to Old Trafford.

Despite already having bids of £26m and £30m rejected by the Spanish giants, the 26-year-old remains the the Reds' No.1 transfer target.

United’s third offer will break the club’s record £30.8m, which they paid Spurs for Dimitar Berbatov in 2008.

Publicly, Barcelona have said Fabregas is not for sale, with new coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino stating: “I’m not going to involve myself in the club’s accounts, but considering the club has already rejected two offers, I would guess it will reject a third. In other words he will remain here.”

Fabregas himself has said nothing, neither to commit himself to Barcelona nor about the United offers. But United are of the understanding he wants to move to Old Trafford, hence their continued interest.

After selling Thiago Alcantara to Bayern Munich, Barcelona’s directors will be strongly criticised if they sell another midfielder, especially one they worked so hard to bring back to the club two years ago.

Barca’s stance appeases their fans, but United’s third offer will mean a considerable profit on the £25m transfer fee which they paid Arsenal for Fabregas two years ago.

Selling Fabregas for such a profit would help justify the sale, though his departure would still be unpopular with fans. Selling him would also be made easier if Fabregas asked for a move.

Barcelona played a friendly against Lechia Gdansk last night in Poland but Fabregas did not travel.

Along with the other internationals who played in the Confederations Cup, he completed two training sessions in Barcelona yesterday.